Innocence Is What We Make It
by Autunm Lilac
Summary: Angst, my pretties! A collection of my one-shots for this marvelous manga! Nine chapters now. Pretty good, eh? Thanks to all those who keep reviewing! A full 10 Chapters! D THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!
1. Chapter 1

Fault

_It is your fault._

**No! It's not!**

_All your fault._

**It… It can't be!**

_Everything is your fault._

**I tried to save them! **

_Just look at them down there. They are dying, crumbling, lying in a pool of their own blood as each boom of their hearts drags them closer to the waiting darkness of death. _

**They're still alive!**

_How easily they fall from their high pedestals to come crashing down to this forsaken earth. _

There was a pause.

_They are all dead. Because of you. Because of your incompetence. _

Evil delight dripped off of the words.

Below, people were dying. Each thud of their fading hearts pulling them irresistibly forward until their quivering bodies were completely enveloped in the shadows of the place where the voice lived.

_What now?_

_What will you do when your world dies before your sightless eyes? Each piece crushed to glittering fragments?_

_Will you still fight?_

_Will it really be worth the pain?_

Another pause, this one longer, deeper, filled with doubt.

_They are all gone._

_Dead._

_Because of you._

_Your weakness._

**No.**

_I thought so._


	2. Chapter 2

To Live

To live, you have to have a reason.

Some live for family.

Others live for vengeance.

Many live for friends.

Several live for battle.

To work, you have to have a purpose.

Some work for family.

Others work for vengeance.

Many work for friends.

Several work for battle.

* * *

In this job, where you worked for god without a single penny to your name, no one lived for god.

… For others…

… For_Them_…

… For my world…

…For my family…

… For all…

…For the lost…

…For the saved…

…For one…

…For me…

* * *

But where he _He_ stand?

_**But where do I stand?**_

What did _He_ fight for?

_**Why do I fight?**_

What will happen when_He _leaves?

_**Do I have to go?**_

Yes.

_**No.**_

* * *

He was _apart_ from them. All those who considered themselves his friends would have to be left behind. Of course, he did not have friends. Apart, after all, meant different and alone.

* * *

When the colossal serpent of flame roared through the open room at the top of the solitary and crumbling tower before burning out, Rabi swayed. His entire body vibrating with each separate pound of his heart, he still managed to stay upright.

* * *

_**Please…**_

At first, it was faint.

_**Please, let me stay with those who are **__my__** friends.**_

…

_**If only a little longer. **_

…

_**Please.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Rain

The pounding, drumming, rhythmic thrum of ran on glass and stone had lulled Lenalle into a sound slumber, her body huddled on the bed. With eyes half-lifed, she appeared to be awake, if lost inside her head.

* * *

_**Hello?**_

_lo-o-o-o-o-o…._

…

_**Anyone?**_

_ne-ne-ne-ne-ne…. _

…

* * *

All was silent in this place, apart from the anguished sobs and screams…

They echoed out into the hungry darkness from a single point of brilliant white light; They reverberated in nothing and bounced back, becoming louder and doubling, tripling in volume and pitch until the noise reached its peak and died away to leave deafening silence in its wake.

* * *

And in the place which is no world, it began to rain. The crystal tears fell upon decaying corpses as the screams started again, now muffled by the rain.

* * *

_**Hello?**_

_lo-lo-lo-lo-lo…._

…

_**Anyone?**_

_ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne…_

…

_**Please?**_

_es-es-es-es-es…._

…

_**Save them.**_

_em-em-em-….._

…

* * *

Lightning crackled across the rain-soaked sky, branching its fingers out to touch the writhing clouds and sending the tower into sharp relief as it died away. Thunder boomed and roared around the pillar of stone as the purple, gray, and black clouds boiled in anger.

* * *

In her dark room, Lenalee's eyes flew open.

"A dream."

_em-em-em-em-em-em…_

"Nothing more…"

_ore-ore-ore-ore…_

She started when she felt a single drop of water land on her cheek, and looked up. There was no water mark on the ceiling, nor any other sign of any water. Touching her hair, Lenalee started in surprise before looking at her tightly bolted window.

"How….?"

_ow-ow-ow-ow-ow….._


	4. Chapter 4

Sacred

_Sacred?_

_Nothing is Sacred._

_Not __**Life**_

_Not__** Words**_

_Not __**Sustenance**_

_Not __**Treasure**_

_Not __**Faith**_

_Not__** Love**_

_Everything you know is a lie._

_Nothing._

_Is._

_Sacred._

**How can that be?**

_Because it is. That is the true and correct answer to any and all questions ever asked, thought, or dreamt. _

**But How?**

The voice which came from that place didn't respond for a time.

_The only thing that is Sacred is blessed silence. The place where the end meets the beginning and everything starts again. The place where there is no time. No time to age. No time to die. No time to live or love. That place is the nothing. That nothing is sacred. Treasure it. _

**What **_**He**_** wants?**

_Yes._

The gap in thought was longer this time, sucking at the ticking seconds and at life itself, pulling, inviting, promising a beautiful and painful death in the nothing. A death that had already been given to the others that had once shared this room with him. Those who had fallen only moments before.

A Beautiful Death.

A Sacred Death.

_Nothing is sacred, child. Not even Life, Love, Death…._


	5. Chapter 5

Warmth

"Aren't I warm?"

And in those words there was the key.

The key to immortality, pleasure, joy, and pain.

Oh, the glorious thrill of pain. Watching something squirm and wriggle while every anguished squeak of agony sends shivers of glee down your spine. The marvelous thrill of control, of conquest over what is now yours to enjoy. The elation of the role of god, of knowing with every bone, muscle, cell, and fiber of your being that you are superior and you are in complete control.

That was the joy of those words and of pain.

"I'm human, just like you."

And the laughter started, never to stop. It would forever ring, tantalizing and crushing, just out of reach. Just beyond everything.

**The Laughter…**

**Laughter…**

**Laugh…**

**Laugh with me. **

**It's **_**FUNNY!**_

**LAUGH!**

And the flickering light of this room, this place that was all hers, everything hers, turned to a bloody red. Ruby streaks shot up the walls, creating a new world in just a moment.

Steadily, the dripping continued as the screams mixed with the laughter.

Such a wonderful sound. So _heavenly. _So _amazing. _ So _joyous. _So _**much fun. **_

And upon the walls, the bleeding light danced, as though it was pleased, overjoyed, to know that its master was suffering and writhing because of the unendurable pain. The pain that would leave nothing but a memory of itself, etched into the memory for all eternity, for even when the body died, the mind went on living forever.

_Forever…_

And upon the walls of a different place, a place so far away that it seemed almost to become a faint suggestion of a memory, and yet so close that you felt you could almost reach out and touch it, the inverted cross dripped its precious ink onto the floor. Drop by steady drop it drained away. And above it, shinning in the light of the moon seen dozens of times, glittered silver-black words.

"Fuck you, Exorcists."

_We've already won._

* * *

I'm not quite sure what the speaking part of Mistress Rhode was like in this part, and I'm to lazy to go and see, so yeah. xP Here ya go. 


	6. Chapter 6

Black and White and Back Again

Don't you love it?

**Yes! I adore it!**

_No! I despise it!_

Isn't it enthralling?

**Yes! It makes my blood boil!**

_No! It makes my blood run cold!_

The pain!

**Oh! The Pain! Yes! The Pain! Delight in the pain of others!**

_Oh! The Pain! Please, no pain! No pain! Make the pain go away for the others!_

To destroy the families?

**The tears are gifts from god.**

_Please, make the tears stop._

And the power?

**There are no words to describe this feeling.**

_There are no words to describe the terror._

The Love?

**Of others to me?**

_Of me to others?_

The tears shed?

**For my family.**

_For the death and pain of others._

Of the Black?

**Always.**

_Never!_

To the White?

**No.**

_Please_.

Please…

**Destroy.**

_Save._


	7. Chapter 7

Please, God 

_Please, the god that I hate so much. Please, god, give me the power that I cannot stand to use. Please, hated god let me carry the burden that has destroyed all others. _

A single hand, outstretched.

Not in prayer.

Never in prayer.

_Please, the god, which has forced so much onto those of us who are innocent. Please, god. Please lend me the power that I have never wanted. Please, god that I despise more than the power, give me the ability to save my world. _

A hand, reaching out for hope.

Never from above.

_And please, god. God who I shall owe my body to. Hated, horrid god. God, give me the time. God, let me save my world. Please, god, if my world crumbled, how would your world be destroyed? _

**And so the world shall crumble. Ice and fire shall battle. Eternal night. Forever. **

For that is what eternal means.

_God, oh, despicable god. If you are there. Give me the power to save the worlds of others, even if my world is destroyed. God, hated, abhorrent god, force upon me the very thing I sought to be rid of. God, to save my world. _

I hate you.

_God, loathed unlike all others, grant me my wish. _

Not for this world.

And the hand trembled, like the waters of a river pushed away. Quavered like the hair crested with thorns.

_God, oh, god. I hate you, god. _

I hate you.


	8. Chapter 8

Marionette 

Haven't you ever felt, at some point in your life, that you are just a puppet, dancing across the stage of life for the simple amusement of beings far greater and grander than you, surrounded by others who are doomed to do the same?

_Yes…_

_Of course…_

But, have you ever wondered who is controlling the strings?

Who the marionette master is?

**It is us. **

**We are your puppeteer. **

**We are controlling your dance. Never a foot out of place, a step behind. We will make sure of it. We do not accept failure. Always dancing to our rhythm, jumping and twirling to our beat, skipping to the tempo we assign to you. **

_Who are you?_

**We are all.**

_God?_

**Perhaps. **

_But, this hurts._

**But isn't it your wish? To save them? To keep fighting until all hope is lost? To rescue them even though the OTHER has destroyed your flesh beyond repair? Isn't that was you asked up for? The chance to keep fighting? **

**We are giving it to you. **

_Yes, but-_

**Your wish is what we follow. Your heart is ours to tease and bind with string. That is the price. **

_Marione…._

**Oh, yes. **

And the essence left the puppet to hand limp, suspended by strings that stretched upward toward heaven for all eternity while nimble fingers played out the scene bellow. The master began laughing, glad for the entertainment of his puppets. 

**God…?**

And the laughter turned to a smirk. 

**Fools trust god. **


	9. Chapter 9

Silver Lining 

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to see the silver lining.

* * *

_**Ping**_

* * *

_It was their promise to each other. _

**So? What does that mean? Your promises have been broken before. **

_But this is different! It is their promise! Not mine! _

**How is this different? Give me one reason they deserve to have their precious promise kept. Once small reason. A single sliver of silver in the boiling mass of gray. One silver lining. Tell me why and find it for me. **

Silence

**You can't, can you? For all your pompous pride and arrogance you can't think of a reason. Pitiable creature. **

_It was a promise. _

**They are dying anyway. **

_That only makes it more important. _

A deeper, more profound silence

**You're wrong.**

* * *

_**Ping**_

* * *

"Give me the innocence."

_**Her heart. His heart. The life. Beating. Falling. Being destroyed. Broken. Mine. Save. Protect them. Anger. Resentment. Blood. Thirst. Must kill. Must destroy.**_

* * *

_**Ping**_

* * *

**Your name is the destroyer of time. You have no talent. No way to save anyone. No right to save them from anything. Who gave you that right? The right to play with their fate? **

"Yes, but I still want to be a destroyer who can save people."

**But they are no more than things. **

_Well, there is your silver lining. _


	10. Chapter 10

Leichendiener

Literally, the corpse servant.

_That's what we are! _

How can you say that? How can you give yourself, us, such a despicable name?

_Because it is true. We are the Corpse Servant, the cleaner of the dead. However, we are also the deads' master. Delight in this! _

How!? How can you say such things! What would the ones I care for think?

_How would I know? They would leave you, most likely. Leave you to me so that I can swallow you up and hide you forever. _

I can't loose them!

_Oh, but you will! You will because the stage has been set, the actors called, the curtain opened! We shall have to make sure you are the one to be their Leichendiener, their servant. Then we can revel in the joy of death! _

I would die for them!

_Is that so? You would die? You really think that there is something worth dying for in this pitiful world? Stupid! Foolish! There is nothing worth dying for here! When you die, you die forever! That's the end! Gone! _

I would…

_Would you now, Leichendiener? Would you really? Or would you laugh, like you laughed at the death and the pain of the others? Their eyes thrown open to the truth of gods will? _

Yes.

_The hands of those you care about are as white as newly fallen snow, their souls pure and radiant. While your hands are stained black from blood! Your soul rotten and degraded! _

Go away!

_Well, if you so desire. Goodnight, my little Leichendiener. Goodnight and sweet dreams. Remember that I'm waiting, my dear Leichendiener. _

Goodnight… and goodbye.


	11. Chapter 11

A Wake

A Wake

3 days of waiting; 2 nights of crying-

_Listless, lifeless drones, moving through their assigned tasks without any semblance of thought, feeling, or life. Sightless eyes stared straight ahead, unaware of the others moving around them, their movement a perfect dance of sequence. _

And on the last night-

_Deep inside their heads, away from everything else, hidden from the outside by thick walls of nothing, thoughts moved sluggishly. No words were spoken, but the thought was collective. _

The world began to collapse-

_Emotions stirred feebly, hidden for so long from the light that reflected from glossy eyes. The thoughts hidden from the world because the time demanded that it be so, demanded that slack mouths not move, for fear of disturbance. _

Because it had been delivered-

_Time, which had stood still for so long, began to move around them, sweeping up their bodies to carry the shells along, but in their hearts time was still a frozen crystal around that single, horrible moment. _

The news and the thought as one had come together-

_Despite the awakening and unknown emotions inside of them, they were tools, drones, worthless pieces of scrap that the Others employed. When they were useless, they would be discarded. It had happened before. _

And the one needed the most would never come back-

_It would happen again. _

"He's gone…"

"I'm sorry."

"Gone…"


End file.
